....nearly forgot.....can't quite get our heads around the fact that it is soon to be Christmas, but it is so.....


Happy Christmas....to all our followers......!

....surprise, surprise....we're now back in Virgin Gorda of the BVI.........having slept on it we decided to up anchor and set off for the above; having seen nothing of Peurto Rico bar the customs office and the marina.....!

The sail back to VG involved a night crossing which is never pleasant, especially as we were going against the wind and current, chopping through the waves for the entire 23hr passage, making us both queasy.....you end up in a kinda trance, drifting in and out of sleep.

Once we reached VG we decided to make good and register with immigration to avoid any unnecessary fuss......boy, did we get a tellling off, it seems we didn't checkout with them when we first visited at the beginning of December and therefore we were liable for fines of $5000....! Holey Moley, we're not having alot of luck with officialdom....anyway, having made us feel 'ever so 'umble' like someone caught stealing bubblegum from Woolworths and, it being Chritmas they gave us six of the best and told us not to do it again....!

Next we had to find a Doctor as I had developed Cystitis (the ladies reading this will understand how painful this is) during the voyage across from PR and having run out of the pills I'd brought with me from UK, I was really losing any semblance of sanity I'd ever had.....it was like PMT multiplied by 100...!....

Actually Customs were good enough to direct me to the nearest Dr being 2mins walk away....he was the biggest gentleman I had ever seen, he was so jolly and easygoing that I didn't mind the $145 charge for seeing him and getting the prescription.....I walked in and within 5mins I was seen, wee wee'd in a bottle and was sat waiting his diagnosis as he did the testing out back in a machine that looked like the paint mixer at B&Q....!

The Chemist was all of 300 yds away and there again, the lady Pharmacist was so cheery, she even gave us a dry-wipe board as a Christmas present but charged us $137 for my medication but I would have paid double and sold Tim if that's what it cost to get what I needed.....piddling acid and razor blades just about sums up my discomfort.....

Anyway, right now, after having a good nights sleep (we were in bed by 8pm and slept through to 7.30am) we are at the Bath & Turtle doing Internet stuff in the vain hope that the attendant is going to show up at the Launderette so we can can have a service wash and wear some clean clothes for Christmas Day at least......

A bit of update and backdate

Well you learn something every day.... Today we learned that we need a visa (not the payment type) to enter US territories on a private vessel. We weren't arrested, but it was probably as close as it gets. We now have just 3 days to see some of Puerto Rico. We are currently seeing a marina! We spent a happy hour or so with US Homeland Security fingerprinting and filing all kinds of forms and stuff. I never realised the potential for paperwork that we represent. Wow! The sad part is the $130 fine(?) goes to the treasury rather than the staff Christmas fund!

We now plan to head back to BVI for Christmas and New Year, perhaps that should read, US Immigration plan for us to head back to BVI for Christmas!

Finally managed to get a photo of the fish in the dock by the restaurant. They are called Tarpin and are about 3.5 feet long. Apparently they hang out for scraps. We left Culebra this morning, and headed to the Western end of Puerto Rico to a place called Fajardo. Apparently there are two lage forts guarding the harbour, although I suspect the reefs and rocks were pretty effective on their own.

We tried the watermaker again today - the product is called a "waterlog" - hmmm. We stand no chance of being waterlogged, and "watermaker" is possibly actionable! Do we spend more on it - or is it a case of good money after bad?

....... one of those days.... I can't seem to upload the videos I wanted to, and I've just had a message that this post may fail. Trying now, otherwise tomorrow looks attractive...

Titchmarsh would have been stunned!

.....ok guys, come with me on this one....make sure you're sitting comfortably and close your eyes.....next imagine being inside a balloon that's drifting....you open them to a scene that resembles the 'Lost Gardens of Heligan' and you're floating through it, very slowly.....that is the best way of describing the underwater world we experienced whilst snorkelling off a place called Melones Bay on the island of Culebra which is close to Peurto Rico......it was sensational.

As you've guessed we've moved on from St Thomas of USVI and stopped at Culebra which is either in a sorry state or possibly on the up, I can't quite decide.....the place looks very much like a shanty town, minus the cowboys and tumbleweed...though it does have it's share of Iguana's and huge fish called Tarpin which must be about 4ft in length and partrol the docks where you pull up in your dinghy; daring you to put your toe in......!

On first arrival Culebra didn't seem a goer but having experienced the best snorkelling ever, chewed the fat with the natives and adjusted to their laidback way of life (that was the hardest part due to us being such high profile adrenalin junkies), it's not half bad....in fact we were planning to Christmas in Peurto Rico but we could remain here and do the turkey thing using an Iguana or a Tarpin (even though I don't do bony, ugly fish) for variety.

Oh yes I nearly forgot to mention, whilst snorkelling we happened upon a turtle grazing amongst the coral....it was like watching Touche Turtle doing ballet.....for those unacquainted with Touche Turtle, he was a cartoon turtle for children.......somehow I think that analogy has lost something in the translation....also you have to be of a certain age to appreciate it....must be getting old.....

Hopefully we'll add some photos to this blog so you can get a taste of what I'm wittering about.

Virgin Islands

Currently in St Thomas in USVI. We had rain last night, but thankfully today is dry with temperature near the 80s again. Sorry to hear about all your snow.....

In a marina last night, luxury being able to step ashore - and to have a good restaurant meal. The restaurant had loads of large (3 foot+) iguanas. So we are back today with the camera, but they are having a lie-in - sorry no photos.

We tried taking the camera for a snorkel - the photographer obviously has a lot to learn about underwater skills. Two attempts attached.

We were anchored off Virgin Gorda last week, when a small and pokey yacht came and anchored nearby. We just felt that standards were slipping! Still I guess you have to live and let live. There are a couple of cruise ships in the area that have sails that can be hauled. They use roller furling sails, just like our Genoa, but I bet they don't haul them in by hand! This one also went past us a night, all lit up like a Christmas tree. Very Pretty.

We have to leave the marina soon, and will be looking for a quiet cove where we can spend a few days at anchor, now that we have the shopping and laundry done and water tanks filled.

Of course, something had to be repaired while we were here - we are now the proud owners of a new water pump, so the taps in all the sinks are feeling very chuffed.

This one just turned up, he is now sitting on the base of our table - hope he doesn't like toes.....

...hi guys, I know this is unheard of, a blog two days running but I forgot to mention something in yesterdays blog which has/is troubling me, Pelicans. Yes, you've read it right, it's Pelicans that are bothering me......still can't work it out? Over here Pelicans are the Shite Hawks (Seagulls) of the Caribbean, not that they steal the coconut from your hand but they're as common as farting in public......

What bothers me is the speed at which they enter the water when they're fishing......they come down from a great height like Captain Nemo on speed and that's the problem......what if they mistake the pattern on my swimming trunks for a tasty little fish?.....how would I explain having a Pelican wedged between the cheeks of my arse...?.....have you seen the size of their beaks......imagine if they tried to open it whilst still embedded....I hope now you can appreciate why I lie awake at night trying to devise a way of preventing this mishap.....any sugestions would be welcome.

BVI - not sure we want to be here...

...this is the second attempt to update the blog, the first one, after much work, was posted but evidently had the wrong postage and was sent somewhere like Magnolia (Mongolia) where some goats are eating it...!

As mentioned in previous blog, we're in BVI but it doesn't tell how we managed to get here and that dear followers is worthy of a line or two.

Having left Bermuda well rested and full of fond memories of the friendly disposition of the islanders we spent the next day or so almost becalmed (little did we know or how lucky we were) wishing for more wind.

OMG....didn't it arrive, the wind we were to experience was only 12 knts short of a hurricane, there we were, hurtling toward our Maker, main sail fully out, genoa partly furled in but not much and then the topping lift (holds the mast steady) gave up followed by the boomvang (holds the boom down)breaking loose.....there was precious little we could do but hold for grim death.....if you have the impression we're reckless in so much as not studying weather forecasts then you'd be well out of order....before any voyage we listen in advance, being guided as to when the best 'window' for departure will be and, this instance was no exception....we were advised we might get a set of 'squalls' lasting roughly 100 miles but nothing more than 25 knt winds.....suffice to say we now regard weather forecasts as merely an understatement of what really is to come....have you noticed, each of our voyages increases in ferocity? I have.

Mind you whatever we ask of 'her' (the boat) she rises to and comes through, each time proving she's worthy of the test which, in turn, gives us more confidence in here ability.....we also learn a bit along the way.

Arriving bedraggled and sail weary in BVI, we stayed for a couple of days in Little Harbour, Peter Island as already referred to. As we are only here to register the boat we had to put into Road Town on the island of Tortola which has been spoken off, being a filthy place inhabited primarily by people who couldn't give a rats cock!

Anyway whilst there we encountered a flotilla of yachts (mostly Americans) and amongst there was a lovely couple, Meena and Bob (who happened to be English) who had the one thing we coveted more than anything.....yes, you've got it, a wind generator that was all but silent and produced copious amounts of power unlike the sack of dead mice we've got masquerading as something similar. They gave us the info needed to get a nice young man to come and give us our hearts desire some time in December. It won't be cheap but it will solve the power problem we've had since day one of our escapade, and that is priceless.

Having left Road Town we next anchored on Jost van Dyke Island which was noteable by it's very existence i.e. rustic, soooo laid back and full of fellow seafarers practising the 'anchor dance' which is nothing short of the 'birdy song' on water......it's always the women who drop the anchor and the men who do all the positioning ( nothing new there then!) but due to the swell at night we moved on to find more settled waters in search of a good kip.

We spent one night in Brewers Bay where the aroma of the brewing process hung thick in the air which isn't such a bad thing but the quality of the water was less than suitable to snorkel in even though the one person we spoke to, Shem, helped restore a bit of faith in the BVI residents and, by goodness they needed it.

Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda is our present address and apart from having a surprisingly pleasing marina with everything a sailor could want, i.e. beer, laundry, supermarkets and free internet access it is anything but a town. The streets are nothing more than dirt tracks with bars springing up in the most bizarre places with music so loud it shakes the fillings out of your teeth and all around there are goats and chickens running wild, extraordinary. The water is clear but lacks the terrain of coral and reef to make it anything other than good and we're near to a ferry jetty which exposes us to swell at certain times so we're only likely to be here for a couple of days before we move on to South Sound sbout 7 nautical miles away.

We're in BVI!

...as Shakespeare had it (with apologies)


...now am I in BVI - the more fool I - were I at home I were in a better place!


Actually it seems to be Road Town in Tortola that sucks. If you ever want gratuitious rudeness try immigration here - league of their own!!

On the other hand - three miles away is Peter Island with a quiet bay, loads of fish to look at when snorkelling, clear water - priceless!

One of the things about Bermuda was just how friendly it was - everyone on the street would say hello if you made eye contact. Passengers getting on a bus would say good morning to the other passengers, and smiles everywhere. It may be a small island, but it is worth a visit. I guess that is what made the contrast to the people here so striking. It is fair to say that given time, most will warm a little, but not all. The really friendly have been in a minority(Sam says you can count them on one hand!).

We are going to try Virgin Gorda, and see if it is different there, we hope it will be.

...we beat Richard Branson......!

....put it like this, we didn't exactly beat him, we just arrived fifty yards infront with more than a little wind up our tails.........to be perfectly honest, our maiden sail to Canada was a walk in the park compared to this one.....!

We left Yankee Point Marina a week last Friday having been advised by 'Herb' that the best time to make the passage was to leave on Monday so we (Herb is a radio 'guru' who gives out individual weather advice to people like us) thought getting as close to the mouth of Chesapeake Bay would give us the advantage.....true but that's were all the fun started.....a euphemism for aaaahhhh!!!!

Monday was calm....we even complained about lack of wind......not something that Tim usually suffers from.....toward the early evening things started to pick up and that was the last time until early Saturday morning that we slept anywhere other than in the cockpit of the boat.....no kidding

300 miles out we picked up a passenger. Not too sure which breed. It stayed with us 3 days, and headed to shore in Bermuda. It was very good at crumbs and defecation!

Not being an alarmist I will cut to the chase so as not to turn myself into a gibbering wreck by reliving blow by blow the full horror of the situation....suffice to say if you've read the papers re Sir Richard Bransons' failed attempt to cross the Atlantic then it was all true......winds up 35 knots and never below 17 knots, making it a gale force nine and sea swells of 40ft with full on rain obviously obscuring my already limited vision......which with hind sight was a blessing....!

Will add details tomorrow with some non scary photos cos I've already broken out in a cold sweat writing this much....

Gibbering wreck and Oh My God....aka Witter and Whinge

Let's start at the very beginning

We left UK early in August and flew to Washington DC. Renting a car at the airport, we decided that a satellite GPS navigation system would be a good idea. ...the real reason was he just didn't trust my powers of navigation, not that he's wrong 'cos I would probably be admiring the view or trying to read the map upside down! It is bad enough to have a different traffic system, without trying to balance a map on the steering wheel! ....typical man, can't multi task....!..us women find it no problem to apply lipstick, comb our hair and change the CD whilst driving....

Actually, we had been tipped off that the marina was "in the Boonies" (after Daniel Boone who surveyed the places other surveyors can't reach....I thought that was Heineken..), and we turned of the main road into smaller and smaller roads, finally seeing a sign that the highway ends.......good stuff this GPS, we wouldn't have believed it otherwise. ...perhaps you would if you lived in the village I came from in the UK, grass growing up the middle of the road, wing mirrors touching both sides...etc

In fact, the title of this post is wrong... we did try to buy a boat in England, but the survey was not good, (in laymans terms it was a crock of sh*te) so we had a major re-think. The boat we chose in England was a great design, so we searched the internet for the same make and model. There were 9 worldwide, then 8, then 7. We would have panicked, but it went back up to 8. The boat in Virginia looked reasonable, and had a new engine (must remember to post a photograph of the engine, it could be printed and displayed next to the photos of the anorak!), he really has got to get out more... so we ended up here. This time the survey was good.

The previous owners were helpful in many ways, but sometimes quite economical with words as far as faults went. Disingenuous is a useful word sometimes. The funniest(?) part was their lifejackets which were passed on to us, but both of them had big punctures - comforting!...the word condemned was used by the manufacturers....nice one.

Anyway, two new toilets, 1 reconditioned alternator, 4 batteries and 100 metres of rope later not to mention new fridge, freezer and bits, we plan to leave here tomorrow, and to head out of Chesapeake Bay on Monday........provided hurricane Omar has dissipated..

One of the best aspects to travelling is meeting interesting people, and we've met a real gem in Spike so we suggest you log on to his website and check it out for yourselves.
http://www.spikehampson.com/index.html

The number of people who have been incredibly kind to us (and put up with our quaint English ways...)is staggeringly high. The staff at the marina deserve a special mention. So thanks to Ken and Karen, Charlie, Ken (Angel OD), Mikey, Wayne, Mike, Leo, Phil (Capn Birdseye) Christopher, Shadow, Eric (who I would offer a job to in the blink of an eye). Jim, Nedra and Kenzie for services to caffeine!...and trips to Wally's World (Walmart to the posh amongst you)

If things go according to plan, the next post will be from Bermuda.

Countdown

We were just wondering how many more things we could expect to break at this stage.... Sam is really just enjoying the view (ok, replacing a bulb this time, but she's been up there at least half a dozen times since)

We are currently at Yankee Point Marina in Virginia. The shrewd amongst you will soon spot that that is where we bought "White Winds". The latest addition to both our wardrobes is fashionably ripped clothes, where the battery acid got us, as we fitted the new batteries, but at least we don't keep running out of electrical power now, so we can use the autohelm - quite handy!!

We plan to head from here to Bermuda, it's too late for Canada now, I reckon. We are now waiting for some Westerlies, without a hurricane predicted, to get out into the atlantic, and through the gulf stream.

We will not stay in Bermuda too long, there is a limit of 21 days - or we have to get a permit, so we will head off aiming to go to the Southern end of the Lesser Antilles, unless we decide that we have had enough, and shortcut to the Virgin Isles. We will be in either of those places sometime in December.

We took part in the Turkey Shoot Regatta, open only to boats designed 25+ years ago. We were given a very low handicap rating, which meant we could just enjoy the sail, without worrying about winning! We didn't!! 130 sailing boats competed, it was a fantastic sight, but as you can see, it can also be nerve-wracking sailing towards a gaggle of boats!

This is where we are headed, 20+ boats all in mid-manouevre - nice!